M.Goodall, A.Tagg British Aircraft before the Great War (Schiffer)

Deleted by request of (c)Schiffer Publishing

SOPWITH Schneider Cup seaplane (Type HS hydro-tractor seaplane)

The instructions issued to the works on 2 February 1914 for this machine, recorded that it was for exhibition at the Olympia Aero Show. Whether this was really intended is not clear, and did not happen in any case. The machine was worked on as a matter of urgency and was completed at Kingston on 31 March 1914 for entry in the Schneider Trophy Contest to be held at Monaco on 20 April 1914, in which it flew as race No.3. The machine was taken immediately to the works of Hamble River, Luke & Co., where it was assembled prior to testing by Howard Pixton. The first of April was not a good day, for the machine capsized immediately Pixton opened up the throttle, owing to the central float being set too far aft. The following day the machine was recovered from the water, was then dismantled and returned to Kingston, where, by a great effort, it was reconstructed by late on the 6 April 1914. The following day, at first light, the machine was taken to the Thames at Turk's boathouse for a flotation test, which was satisfactory, but the machine was prevented from flying by Thames Conservancy officials. On 8 April 1914 the men from the works pushed the machine in the early hours to Richmond, where the Port of London Authority was responsible for the river and the machine was flown briefly by Pixton with a misfiring engine. The aircraft was dispatched from Kingston on 9 April 1914 by rail and sea to Monaco, where it arrived on 16 April 1914. During testing it was decided to change the propeller and to fit a small additional fuel tank, which was done on the day before the race. Pixton was the winner, covering the twenty-eight laps of 280 kilometers at 85.5 mph. He continued for a further two laps, thus establishing a world record for 300 kilometers at a speed of 92 mph. This was the greatest achievement in British aviation to that date. The Schneider seaplane was a more powerful version of the military 'Tabloid' scout, mounted on floats. When the machine was taken to Hamble originally it was fitted with a broad main pontoon float and a box like tail float of similar cross-section, mounted on three struts well below the rear fuselage. In the course of repairing the aircraft the pontoon was sawn in half and the insides of the halves were boxed in, forming twin floats, spaced well apart and positioned further forward. Also prior to the contest a new shaped tail float, with water rudder, was fitted and was raised to a position just below the fuselage. By the 20 May 1914 the machine had been converted to landplane configuration and was at Brooklands, where Pixton flew it the following day in preparation for the Aerial Derby in which Barnwell flew the Schneider unsuccessfully as race No.21. Hawker, back from Australia, flew it as No. 14 in a race from London to Manchester. In both cases the aircraft retired due to weather conditions or Hawker's illness. On 27 June 1914. after carrying out aerobatics, Hawker lost control and crashed at Byfleet, wrecking the aircraft without injury to himself. The Sopwith company received three separate contracts totaling 136 aircraft in 1915 for Schneider type seaplanes, with minor changes to improve the aircraft and adapt it for naval use. An even later development, with a change of engine became known as the Sopwith Baby and was produced in larger numbers by Blackburns and Faireys as well as Sopwiths.

H.King Sopwith Aircraft 1912-1920 (Putnam)

Tabloid

Exploitation of the Sopwith Tabloid's military potential as a fast scout dated from April 1914, when the first of a small batch for the RFC was finished. By 26 May the sixth was at Brooklands for test. These Service Tabloids were single-seaters, with a fin and plain rudder and finer nose lines. It was, in fact, these very features that apart from a float landing gear had distinguished the specimen to which attention is now directed, and which was to prove the most famous Tabloid of all by winning for Great Britain what came to be regarded as almost the Grail of airmen - the Schneider Trophy. With this achievement the name of the pilot concerned - C. Howard Pixton, or 'Pickie' to Tom Sopwith has become so closely identified (and rightly so) that the essential contribution made by Harry Hawker to design, demonstration and development are sometimes overshadowed. This being so, before concentrating once again on Pixton's resounding feat at Monaco, the following facts must have their place: First, the actual design, or basic concept, of the Tabloid owed much to Hawker personally, though Sopwith and Sigrist also had their say; second, it was Hawker who, on the very day that the Tabloid demonstrated its speed range and climb at Farnborough (29 November, 1913) had circuited Hendon before a crowd of 50,000 at 90 mph; third, Hawker himself had taken the first machine to his native Australia (surely the classic instance of ‘local boy makes good') for demonstrations-and by the time of his return on 6 June, 1914, the appearance of the machine had been transformed by the stripping-off of much of the fuselage covering and the fitting of a plain V-type landing gear. Thus, it was during Hawker's absence that the seaplane which won the 1914 Schneider Trophy was built - and that this was one of a batch of twelve that had been ordered as single-seat scouts for the RFC has been affirmed by Sir Thomas Sopwith himself, ‘it was decided to modify one to compete', he said, adding: ‘in its original form this aeroplane had one central float which was installed too far aft. Three days before we were due to ship the aeroplane to Monte Carlo it had not flown. Howard Pixton was the pilot and on the first attempt to fly, at Hamble, the machine cartwheeled over on to its nose and sank. At daylight next morning we salvaged the aeroplane, took it to Kingston by road, sawed the single float into two, built two new sides and installed a twin-float chassis. We then took the aeroplane to Teddington and without permission flew it off, this time successfully. From the time it was at the bottom of Hamble river until it was airborne again was less than three days.' To the foregoing recollections Sir Thomas added: ‘it is interesting that up to the time that I received the first contract for the Tabloids for the army, none of my aeroplanes, and, so far as I know, no one else's, was ever stressed. All of them were built by eye and we had no idea of the factors - except that they were more than one! I have always maintained that if an aeroplane looks right, it generally is right, although at the same time this must not be carried too far.' Here, unquestionably, we have 'The Skipper' speaking (for as such I have heard his co-directors address him) - the lover, co-designer and steersman of high-speed surface and skimming craft; and in warning that the eye alone could be deceiving he could well have had in mind (for example) the Royal yacht Victoria and Albert which, though one of the loveliest-looking vessels of all time, heeled over when being first undocked because of mistakes in calculating weight-distribution. Thus, the first Tabloid seaplane was in Royal company. Stimulated by his love of yachts and all the best that Monte Carlo means, Tom Sopwith was to experience, on 20 April, 1914, one of his long life's greatest joys; for on that day flying a Tabloid having a triangular fin ahead of a plain rudder; two short strut-mounted main floats; a tail float with faired-in attachments (earlier, as a photograph suggests, this float was attached by an unfaired set of struts); a specially tuned 100 hp Gnome Monosoupape engine ('the first 100 hp Mono ever to come to this country' as Sir Thomas once averred); 'SOPWITH' in seemingly huge capitals on its tiny fuselage (conforming with a similar proclamation on the 1913 Circuit Seaplane); and the racing-number 3 on its rudder - C. H. Pixton won the 1914 Schneider Trophy Race at Monaco. At an average speed of 86.78 mph (140 km/h) he covered the 150-nautical mile course in 2 hr 13.4 sec. Then he carried on for two extra laps-making thirty in all at 92 mph (148 km/h) to establish a new world speed record for seaplanes. Invited by Jacques Schneider himself to celebrate on the best the Principality could offer, he wondered if he might have a bottle of Bass. Except for the French engine it was Britain all the way; and even the French engine had received the British treatment in the matter of installation and cowling, with a neat and sturdy fore-and-aft mounting (or nose-bearing mounting as it was sometimes called by Sopwith) which afforded not only stiffness but a very clean aerodynamic entry. As the engine-makers explained: 'The 100 h.p. Monosoupape engine' (for such was the unit fitted in the Tabloid racing seaplane instead of the standard 80 hp Gnome) 'is supported in the machine by two bearer plates, both upon the long end [i.e. rear end] of the crankshaft. That is, the standard practice is to let the engine overhang its bearers. Where it is desirable to have a more rigid fixing, or fixings spread over a greater length of longitudinals, a third support is added between the propeller and the engine. With such a fixing the standard pattern of short nose has to be replaced with a long or medium nose, and a ball bearing is interposed between the nose and support.' The 100 hp ‘Mono' engine (for so the French power unit was known for short, otherwise as the Monosoupape, or Single-Valve, Gnome) normally whirled round at no more than 1,300 rpm., and after arrival at Monaco it was decided by Victor Mahl that the 1.350 revs allowed by the Lang propeller then fitted were too high, and would lead to overheating. Whereupon an Integral propeller of coarser pitch was substituted. Although, as earlier noted, the basic concept of the Tabloid was a joint effort, it is worth giving a final note about Pixton's seaplane, written by C. M. Poulsen, whose intimate knowledge of Sopwith design and construction has already been instanced. 'C.M.P.' was writing on the occasion of 'Uncle Fred' Sigrist's retirement in 1940, in the particular context of this seaplane, though probably having in mind the landplane original also. 'It is interesting to record', he said, 'that this machine was designed entirely by Sigrist, and he was in charge of construction.’

Schneider and Baby

The three-float single-seat Sopwith seaplane which, in November 1914, was put into production for the RNAS was - as the commonly used name "Schneider" proclaimed very much the same aircraft as the floatplane Tabloid with which Howard Pixton had made history at Monaco in the preceding April (see under ‘Tabloid') - still with the relatively powerful 100 hp Gnome Monosoupape engine (though not specially tuned) on the "nose-bearing" mounting. By noting that the name Schneider was 'commonly used' one has in mind the quite extensive currency in official and private documents alike - of the appellation 'Schneider Trophy [or Cup] Seaplane’. For was it not vastly glamorous (and good for recruitment) to be able to assure one's girl-friend that one was flying a 'real racer' of such high renown rather than just 'a little seaplane’ especially so as the Tabloid was quickly to become more of a hack than a hacker-down of Zeppelins, or anything so fierce. And here it may be emphasised that the later 'improved' Schneider that was officially called the Baby and will be described under that name, continued to be loosely referred to as a Schneider; and as J. M. Bruce recorded plaintively in his British Aeroplanes 1914-18 'There is much confusion in most of the records of the exploits of both types.' Though initially the Schneider retained a triangular fin, as on Pixton's racer, this surface was later much enlarged in area (as was common with floatplanes) then being curved in contour; and this development was commonly associated with the fitting of ailerons instead of a wing-warping system, though the latter was used on the early Schneiders. An especially noticeable difference - even on the early Schneiders - was the additional diagonal strut in the float-attachment assembly (a feature that was to recur in the Schneider's lineal descendant the Hawker Nimrod, though in that instance respecting the centre-section struts and not those which attached the floats). To accommodate a Lewis gun, firing upwards and forwards over the propeller, an aperture was made in the Schneider's centre section; but the nature and disposition of armament varied widely, and deflector plates were sometimes fitted to the propeller. Further, it must be noted, although rifles, carbines, shotguns and pistols were quite commonly carried aboard aircraft in 1914/15 (the Sopwith Two-seater Scout, for instance, sometimes had a shotgun with a chain-shot load, this last comprising lumps of lead linked by a steel wire to rip open fabric, leaving the wind to do the rest) with the Schneider a shotgun-related weapon of a particular type was associated. This weapon was made by Holland & Holland, who also developed the Paradox gun that was familiar to early fighting aircrew; but though a 12-bore, the particular weapon now in mind (the 'Aero gun' as it was called) had a recoil-damping device, and a muzzle-shield to prevent an inrush of air during loading. The gun was fixed to the Schneider (or was intended to be) aligned so as to fire chain-shot or buckshot clear of the propeller. For carrying anti-aircraft or anti-terrestrial bombs, arrangements were likewise varied, though a common fitment seems to have been the '20 lb. C.F.S. carrier', taking four 20 lb Hales H.E. bombs, or four 16 lb H.E.R.L. bombs, or four 16 lb carcass incendiary bombs, or four 6 lb 'small petrol bombs' (as they were called). The carrier was generally suspended on struts well below the fuselage. One known photograph is especially interesting because the carrier is apparently capable of taking eight 16 lb or 20 lb bombs - though significantly (for the Schneider's lifting capacity was strictly limited, especially in adverse climatic or marine conditions) no gun is fitted and four bombs only are in place. These bombs are on the central group of crutches. Resulting from the width of the carrier the supporting struts are apparently toed out, instead of sloping inwards as for instance on the Schneider seen in another known photograph - showing a Schneider with experimental Linton Hope floats. Certainly it is worth noting that one possible load for a Schneider was four 16 lb bombs plus four incendiaries of unrecorded pattern - though conceivably 15 lb Carcass; nevertheless, the four 16-pounders alone would correspond roughly with the weight of the single 65 lb H.E.R.L. bomb that was otherwise (and doubtless somewhat later) carried on the Schneider. This last-mentioned bomb was of a type and calibre commonly used for anti-submarine work. Steel darts would have been an alternative offensive load. From many an old Naval-flying hand the very name 'Sopwith Schneider' could well bring instant recollections of one of the best-loved aircraft carriers (though strictly speaking she was a 'seaplane carrier') that the Service ever had - the Ben-my-Chree formerly an Isle of Man packet boat and generally associated with torpedo-dropping Shorts in the Dardanelles campaign. Yet Sopwith Schneiders too made history (technical, if not operational) from this same vessel; and even as early as 11 May, 1915 months before the droppings in the Dardanelles but during an actual operation off the German coast - a Schneider (which could have been No.1444 or No.1557) was used for an attempt to fly-off from a dismountable forward platform. For this purpose wheels were fitted to the floats, but the pioneer effort like the Schneider itself was grievously marred by the wrecking of the engine-starting gear. This took the form of a crank-handle in the cockpit; and this fractious handle not only broke the pilot's wrist, but removed some of the instruments from the sparsely furnished dashboard. The first successful take-off of this kind by a Schneider was made not from the Ben-my-Chree but from Campania, the pilot being a Flt Lieut W. L. Welsh, who as Air Marshal Sir William Welsh held some senior posts in the Second World War notably that of AOC-in-C Flying Training Command, 1941-42. With Campania making 18 kt into a 13-kt wind, on 6 August, 1915, Welsh's Schneider (No.1559. fitted with a jettisonable wheeled dolly) was airborne after a run of 113 ft (34 m). These early deck-operations followed some catastrophic experiences when operating the Schneiders directly from the water: as, for instance, on 4 July, 1915, when three factory-new examples which had been hoisted-out from HMS Engadine had their plywood floats smashed while on the water, and only one aircraft could be salvaged. Meanwhile four Zeppelins prowled around. The Navy's notions for off-shore Zeppelin interception were ingenious and manifold. Thus during 1915 there was a plan to patrol 50 miles out with shallow-draught paddle steamers bearing four Schneiders apiece, though by the end of March 1916 only the Killingholme and Brocklesby answered to this programme. Light cruisers of the North Sea Patrol were other largely unsuccessful carriers for Schneiders (as, indeed, were Yarmouth trawlers); and though on 2 June, 1915, the cruiser Arethusa made a determined launch against a Zeppelin, the pilot failed to attack before returning because of a misunderstanding. The Schneider's delicacy in a seaway notwithstanding, one feels wholly justified in recording its pioneering take-off from a ship's platform before the sorry tales of battered floats and shattered hopes; for Sopwith and the Navy were together launching not merely a few frail floatplanes but (by the use of shipboard platforms) a novel method of air war - and this not in some quiet haven, but in face of the enemy. Even more than this: Schneiders were carried by and launched from a submarine - this in April and May 1916, when E.22 went to sea with a pair of the little seaplanes on her deck, whence they flew home to Felixstowe. Needless, perhaps, to add, E.22 did not submerge with her strange deck-cargo in place; though clearly presaged here were the catapult-launched Parnall Peto trials from the watertight hangar of M.2 trials that began in the late 1920s, though they ended disastrously in 1932. Except that it was never catapulted, and never achieved a reputation for robustness, the Schneider did, in fact, perform just about every type of operation that was undertaken by the postwar Fairey Flycatcher, one of the most versatile single-seaters ever built; and if one adds to its distinctions those that are separately credited to its landplane twin the Tabloid, then the Sopwith contribution to the development of one of the most 'difficult' of all Service aircraft - the naval fighter - is at once apparent. Furthermore, the aircraft of that class today lack the buoyancy conferred by even partially waterlogged plywood floats. Operational, as distinct from mainly technical, successes were achieved by Schneiders in the eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea - these sometimes involving gunnery spotting or reconnaissance; and even as late as 21 November, 1916, a Schneider flown by F Sub-Lieut A. F. Brandon shot down an enemy aircraft which had attacked the Mudros airship hangar. All the Schneiders were built by Sopwith themselves, the first order being for twelve (Nos.1436 to 1447), followed by a batch of twenty-four (Nos.1556 to 1579) and another of a hundred (Nos.3707 to 3806). The essential difference between the Schneider and its derivative the Baby (Sopwith built a hundred Babies, numbered 8118 to 8217) was the very one which rendered these generally similar aircraft readily distinguishable to the eye: namely, the fitting of a more powerful engine - the 110 hp or 130 hp Clerget - which was housed in a wholly different cowling, of open-fronted inverted-U or so-called 'horseshoe' form. Though armament varied, the most interesting innovation was the fitting, on some aircraft, of a synchronised Lewis gun, firing over the cowling just described. The gun was mounted either on the centre line, projecting backwards through the windscreen, or was offset to starboard - and, distinct from these installations there were instances of a Lewis gun mounted on the starboard side of the fuselage and of the gun being attached to the port centre-section struts, turned on its side, and firing upward at about 45 degrees to the line of flight. Whether or not any meeting ever took place between T. O. M. Sopwith and Col Isaac Newton Lewis (the developer, if not strictly the inventor, of the Lewis gas-operated drum-fed machine-gun) one cannot be certain, though Lewis and Geoffrey de Havilland most certainly met. The matter is, in any case, of little consequence: for although the initially Belgian-sponsored Lewis gun was manufactured and adapted for aerial use by BSA in Great Britain (and demonstrated by that company at Bisley, Surrey, just a few miles from the Sopwith works at Kingston in the same county during November 1913) official interest by the British flying Services was firmly established when war came. The Lewis gun, though an admirable weapon for free mounting (as in the classic instance of the 1 1/2 Strutter) proved intractable in attempts to synchronise it; and though George Constantinesco (his Christian name was rightly rendered thus) was one of several men who designed synchronising gears of various types to meet the case, he was likewise eager to render the difficulties clear. These difficulties were inherent in the gun's method of operation with the striker carried on a post which travelled backwards and forwards in a slot in the breech-bolt, with firing taking place initially from the 'open-breech' (or 'open-bolt') position under the influence of the 'return spring', which was such a prominent and important component of the gun. These inherent difficulties notwithstanding, mechanical gears of both Scarff and Hazelton types (Martinsyde designed an electrical gear, as they also did for the Vickers gun) were installed on Sopwith Baby floatplanes, including the Blackburn, Fairey and Parnall-built versions or derivatives. On some Blackburn-built examples - and possibly others with synchronised Lewis guns the spade grip of the gun was adapted to serve as a protective pad (pilot-protective, that is); and in some instances firing may have been initiated from the spade grip rather than from the pistol grip, as was the case in free installations. Like the Schneider, the Baby was used for varied duties, and for anti-submarine work it could carry two (instead of one, as on the Schneider) 65 lb bombs, in tandem under the fuselage. However, the Lewis gun and ammunition weighed 55 lb, and only one 65 lb bomb could be carried in addition. Though there seems to be no confirmation of the possibility, it may well be that a single 100 lb H.E.R.L. bomb was lifted, if only experimentally, though identification in photographs could prove difficult as both the 65 lb and 100 lb bombs were identical in length (as well as being of thin-case type, and commonly employed against submarines). Four 20 lb bombs would be another possible load. One positively identified armament installation involved the fitting of Le Prieur (or possibly Brock ‘Immediate') rockets to the interplane struts, and one batch of Blackburn-built Babies initially carried Ranken Darts to the exclusion of other armament. Designed late in 1915, these darts were explosive anti-airship weapons. With the heavier armament loads (together, perhaps, with such prudent provisions as a sea anchor, a caged carrier-pigeon and emergency rations) a fully-fuelled Baby was demanding a lot even from a 130 Clerget engine, and special lift-increasing modifications made by Blackburn and Fairey will later be described. Meanwhile some Baby achievements must be placed on record. Both in Home waters and the East these little single-seat seaplanes were operated much as were their precursors the Schneiders, and were likewise concerned in some early shipborne operations. Two Babies, for example, were hoisted-out from HMS Vindex in the Horns Reef area on 25 March, 1916, though one was lost - which was the more regrettable because the intended target (a supposed Zeppelin base at Hoyer) was found in fact to be at Tondern. This being so, no fewer than eleven Babies were hoisted-out from Vindex and Engadine off Sylt on the following 4 May. Four of these sustained broken propellers; one was overturned by a destroyer's wake; and three had engine failure. Of the three that got away one crashed after striking a destroyer's wireless aerial, one returned with engine trouble and one reached Tondern. Alas, its two 65 lb bombs missed their target. From Campania (as with Welsh's Schneider) take-offs were made using wheeled dollies; and when this same vessel put to sea for the Battle of Jutland (fought 31 May - 1 June, 1916) her aircraft included not only three Babies, but four Schneiders also, while Engadine bore - equally abortively - two Babies of her own. To back-up the land-based fighters at Dunkirk four Babies were transferred there from Vindex on 24 June, 1916, and nearly a year later (May 1917) these were supplemented by another nine - though not for long, for two months later Pups replaced them. Bombing raids by Babies were quite frequent in the Mediterranean area, both from shore stations and the Ben-my-Chree. Three Babies from this famous ship, for instance, attacked the Chikaldir railway bridge on 27 December, 1916, and in February of the following year six Babies were allotted to the Otranto seaplane base. In the Aegean three flew as fighters from Thasos, and - such was technical and operational progress - that in November 1917 the seaplane carrier Empress, operating in the East, carried not only four Sopwith Babies but two of the newly derived Hamble Babies also a fact that conveniently focusses attention on production and development. With expanded production and extended capability both in mind, a sample Baby was supplied to the Blackburn Aeroplane & Motor Co and another to the Fairey Aviation Co; and some Blackburn-built examples were, in fact, engaged in certain of the operations already recorded - including fighter patrols from Dunkirk. As late as 20 January, 1918, two Blackburn-built Babies from Imbros tried unsuccessfully to bomb the German cruiser Goeben. Concerning Blackburn's production effort A. J. Jackson wrote in his Blackburn Aircraft since 1909: "The Blackburn Baby seaplanes (as they were called) were built in the Olympia Works, Leeds, commencing with a prototype machine, N300, and 70 subsequent aircraft all with 110 hp Clerget engines. Ten of these, N1030- N1039, were fitted with experimental mainplanes of modified section. Later both sub-contractors were made responsible for modifying the design to take the 130 hp Clerget, after which Blackburns built 115 machines with this engine. These were in two batches, the first, N1410-N1449, being armed with Ranken anti-Zeppelin darts.” RNAS/Sopwith/Bentley associations were close, and N1410 et seq were originally intended to have the Bentley A.R.1 engine, at first called Admiralty Rotary, but engines of this type were not available in time. Blackburn production did, in fact, total 186 Babies - N300, N1010-N1039, N1060-N1069, N1100- N1129, N1410-N1449 and N2060-N2134. In a purely technical sense Fairey's effort was altogether more ambitious, and although quite properly known as the Fairey Hamble Baby - being virtually a new type, and thus more justly renamed than was the ‘Blackburn Baby' - must have a brief note in this Sopwith book (and not merely because Tom Sopwith knew Hamble well, and was an ardent yachtsman, as was Dick Fairey). The salient novelty in the Hamble Baby (50 built) was the use of the Fairey Patent Camber Gear first incorporated on the converted Sopwith Baby No.8134 - and production machines were further distinguished by newly designed floats and a characteristic square-cut Fairey tail, this last feature contrasting strongly with the new, rounded, wingtips. Thus was this Sopwith derivative a true forebear of the Fairey Flycatcher, already named in this chapter. Parnall-built Hamble Babies and their skid-equipped landplane derivatives the Hamble Baby Converts retained the Sopwith-style tail. Yet another derivative of the Sopwith Baby was the one-off Port Victoria P.V.1, with wings of higher aspect ratio, heavily cambered and heavily staggered. Sopwith production of the Baby was, as already noted, the entire first batch of a hundred (Nos.8118-8217) all of which were delivered between September 1915 and July 1916. Of these the first five were non-standard, in retaining the 100 hp Gnome Monosoupape engine, as in the Schneider; the others were fitted as standard with the 110 hpClerget. Babies Nos.8128 and 8129 were delivered to the French; ten Blackburn-built Babies were supplied to the Norwegian Naval Air Service; to Canada - for embarkation in ships of the Royal Canadian Navy went Nos.8125, 8197, 8204 and 8209.

P.Lewis British Aircraft 1809-1914 (Putnam)

Sopwith Tabloid

A special single-seat Tabloid was prepared to represent Great Britain for the first time in the Schneider Trophy contest due to be held at Monaco on 20th April, 1914. The race was for seaplanes, and a single wide central float was built for the machine, which was powered by the latest type of 100 h.p. Monosoupape Gnome, the engine being specially tuned by Victor Mahl for the event. C. Howard Pixton was chosen to fly the Schneider Tabloid, but, on taxying out at Hamble for testing, the machine turned over in the water, and it was returned to the Kingston works. Twin floats were then quickly made by adopting the simple expedient of cutting the original large float down the centre-line. After test-flying from the River Thames on 8th April the Schneider contender was sent straightaway to Monaco. Minor modifications were made, and a new propeller was fitted on 19th April to good effect, for, on the following day, Pixton triumphed over the hitherto superior French pilots and aircraft and became the first to win the Schneider Trophy for Great Britain. The tiny seaplane covered the 300 km. course in 2 hrs. 9 mins. 10 secs, at an average speed of 86.75 m.p.h., and capped this fine performance by continuing around the course for two extra laps at 92 m.p.h. to set up a new world speed record for seaplanes. On its return to England the victorious Tabloid was converted at Kingston to a landplane with a vee-strut undercarriage and was prepared for R. H. Barnwell to fly it in the 1914 Aerial Derby. On the day of the contest, however, bad visibility forced Barnwell to abandon the race, and thereafter the Tabloid design demonstrated its prowess by carrying out scouting missions for the R.F.C. and R.N.A.S. during the opening months of the 1914-18 War.

O.Thetford British Naval Aircraft since 1912 (Putnam)

Sopwith Schneider

The Schneider was so named because it was directly descended from the Sopwith Tabloid seaplane which had been used by Mr Howard Pixton to win the Schneider Trophy contest for Great Britain at Monaco on 20 April 1914. The little Tabloid performed magnificently; its average speed was over 86 mph, and in an extra two laps after finishing the race Pixton reached 92 mph, which was then a world's record for seaplanes. It was natural that with the outbreak of war the RNAS should adopt this fine seaplane, and production began in November 1914 with an order for 12 aircraft, Nos.1436 to 1447. The early RNAS Schneider differed little from Pixton's Tabloid. The same 100 hp Monosoupape Gnome engine was used, housed-in a curious bull-nosed cowling which became a characteristic feature of the Schneider and in fact distinguished the type from the later Baby. Early aircraft had a triangular fin and employed wing-warping; later an enlarged, curved fin and normal ailerons were introduced, as in the three-view drawing. Subsequent orders were for 24 Schneiders (Nos.1556 to 1579) and 100 (Nos.3707 to 3806), and the final production total was 160, five of which remained in commission in March 1918. During 1915 repeated attempts were made to use Schneiders to intercept Zeppelins over the North Sea. The seaplanes were carried in light cruisers, paddle-steamers such as Killingholme and Brocklesby, and in the seaplane-carriers Ben-my-Chree and Engadine. Scant success attended these sorties; frequently the seaplanes could not take off due to heavy seas, or the floats broke up in the water. A remedy was sought by fitting two-wheeled dollies beneath the floats, enabling the Schneiders to operate from the short flying-off deck of carriers so equipped. The first successful take-off using this device was from Campania on 6 August 1915. The Schneider was flown by FlLt W L Welsh. On 26 March 1916 a Schneider bombed aircraft sheds at Sylt and, on 6 May, the Zeppelin sheds at Tondem. Overseas, Schneiders did an immense amount of useful work, both reconnaissance and righting. in the eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea. They saw service in the Dardanelles campaign, flying from Ark Royal, and as late as 21 November 1916 a Schneider, flown by FlSub Lt A F Brandon, shot down an enemy aircraft over Mudros.

The Sopwith Baby was a development of the Schneider, from which it differed in having the more powerful 110 hp Clerget engine in place of the Gnome Monosoupape, the hull-nosed cowling of the earlier aircraft being replaced by an open-fronted cowling of more orthodox pattern. Another improvement was the installation of a synchronised Lewis gun above the fuselage, though some Babies retained the original type of gun-mounting with the Lewis inclined upwards through the top wing. The first batch of 100 Babies (Nos.8118 to 8217) were built by Sopwith and delivered between September 1915 and July 1916. The first five aircraft of this batched retained the 100 hp Gnome engine, as did No.8199. The rest had the 110 hp Clerget, and this engine was retained when Baby production was transferred to the Blackburn Company. The first Blackburn Baby (N300) was followed by 70 production aircraft with 110 hp Clerget engines (N1010 to 1039, N1060 to 1069 and N1100 to 1129) and 115 with the 130 hp Clerget engine (N1410 to 1449 and N2060 to 2134). It had originally been planned to fit the Bentley A. R. I from N 1410, but these engines were not available in time. The first hatch of 130 hp Babies differed from the others in having Ranken anti-Zeppelin darts fitted instead of a machine-gun. In the same way as the Schneiders, Babies operated from seaplane-carriers in the North Sea and in the Mediterranean. They also flew on fighter patrols from Dunkirk until superseded by Sopwith Pups in July 1917. In the various Middle East campaigns. Babies were fequently used in bombing raids. Ben-my-Chree's Babies attacked the Chikaldir railway bridge in December 1916, and. in November, those from the carrier Empress took part in the Palestine fighting. Bombing raids on Zeppelin bases from home waters were less successful. In an attack on the Tondern airship base from the carriers Engadine and Vindex on 4 May 1916 only one out of 11 Babies succeeded in bombing the target.

H.King Armament of British Aircraft (Putnam)

Schneider and Baby. The original Sopwith Schneider racing seaplane was built in 1913, and developed versions for the RNAS were in service during 1915. At least two different installations of a Lewis gun were made. The first entailed the fitting of deflector plates on the airscrew, and the second the attachment of the gun on the centre-section at an angle sufficient for the bullets to clear the airscrew disc. The rear end projected through an aperture. This second installation was for anti-airship work, and for the same purpose H.E. and incendiary bombs could be carried. One identified load was four 20-lb H.E. bombs and an incendiary bomb. The armament later standardised for the Baby was a Lewis gun. with mechanical synchronizing gear on the fuselage centre line and projecting backwards through the windscreen, or alternatively offset to starboard. For antisubmarine work there was provision for two 65-lb bombs (the Schneider carried one) in tandem under the fuselage. The gun and ammunition weighed 55 lb and only one bomb could be carried in addition. There were instances of a Lewis gun mounted on the starboard side of the fuselage and of the gun attached to the port centre-section struts, turned on its side, and firing upwards at about 45 degrees to the line of flight. In at least one instance Le Prieur rockets were attached to the interplane struts, and one batch of Blackburn-built Babies initially carried Ranken Darts to the exclusion of other armament. A photograph shows one of these aircraft later armed with a Lewis gun and having also a carrier for, apparently, four 20-lb bombs.

A.Jackson Blackburn Aircraft since 1909 (Putnam)

Sopwith Baby

A single-seat armed reconnaissance seaplane of wood and fabric construction designed by the Sopwith Aviation Co Ltd in 1915 as a more powerful development of the Sopwith Schneider. Production for the Royal Naval Air Service was sub-contracted to the Fairey Aviation Co Ltd, Hamble, and to the Blackburn Aeroplane and Motor Co Ltd, who were each supplied with a sample aircraft.The Blackburn Baby seaplanes (as they were called) were built in the Olympia Works, Leeds, commencing with a prototype machine, N300, and 70 subsequent aircraft all with 110 hp Clerget air-cooled rotary engines. Ten of these, N1030-N1039, were fitted with experimental mainplanes of modified section. Later both sub-contractors were made responsible for modifying the design to take the 130 hp Clerget, after which Blackburns built 115 machines with this engine. These were in two batches, the first, N1410-N1449, being armed with Ranken anti-Zeppelin darts.All were taken by road to be test flown from the River Humber at Brough by R. W. Kenworthy who subsequently delivered them by air to East Fortune. They operated in Palestine, as well as from seaplane carriers in the North Sea and Mediterranean, and flew fighter patrols from Dunkirk until replaced in July 1917. Nl 121 with 110 hp Clerget was presented to the French Government and N2121 from the final batch went to the USA in February 1918.

C.Andrews Vickers Aircraft since 1908 (Putnam)

SOPWITH BABY SEAPLANE

An unspecified number of British Sopwith Baby seaplanes, including Gnome- and Clerget-powered versions, were obtained by the US Navy in Europe in 1917-18 for training. Four (A869-A872) were sent to the States for evaluation. Those remaining in Europe continued to operate under their British serial numbers. The single-seat seaplane scout design, with a 110 hp Clerget engine, was investigated by a few American manufacturers, but the type was not accepted for service. Span, 25 ft 8 in; length, 22 ft 10 in; gross weight, 1,580 lb; max speed, 92 mph.

W.Green, G.Swanborough The Complete Book of Fighters

SOPWITH SCHNEIDER UK

Derived from the Tabloid float seaplane which won the Schneider Trophy contest in April 1914, and named, appropriately enough, the Schneider, the single-seat twin-float seaplane ordered into production in November 1914 for the RNAS resembled closely the aircraft that had gained the Trophy at Monaco. Retaining the same 100 hp Gnome Monosoupape nine-cylinder rotary - the upper half of which was enclosed by a ‘bull-nose’ cowling - and wing-warping lateral control, the Schneider had a larger fin and rudder, reinforced float bracing and an aperture in the centre section for an upward-angled 0.303-in (7,7-mm) machine gun. Used for patrol duties against enemy airships from seaplane stations around the British coast, the Schneiders were provided with incendiary ammunition and operated against Zeppelins from early 1915. Schneiders were also carried aboard light cruisers of the North Sea Patrol for anti-Zeppelin operations, and served at the Dardanelles, in the Aegean and in the Eastern Mediterranean. Two Schneiders operated from the carrier Ark Royal in April 1915 at Mudros, and the type was still serving in the Aegean as late as November 1916, one shooting down an enemy aircraft which had attacked the airship shed at Mudros on the 21st of that month. A total of 136 Schneiders is believed to have been built, progressive development resulting in the Baby.

Derived from the Schneider single-seat fighter seaplane, the Baby first appeared in September 1915, and differed from its predecessor primarily in having a 110 hp Clerget nine-cylinder rotary in place of the Monosoupape, this being accommodated by a horseshoe-shaped open-fronted cowling. As on late production Schneiders, ailerons replaced wing warping for lateral control, and armament usually consisted of a single 0.303-in (7,7-mm) machine gun synchronised to fire through the propeller, although a few Babies retained the arrangement of the Schneider with the gun attached to the centre section and firing upward to clear the propeller. Several Babies were fitted with two 0.303-in (7,7-mm) guns side by side over the wing; one batch of Blackbum-built Babies was fitted with Ranken explosive darts as anti-airship weapons, and at least one was fitted with Le Prieur rockets, 10 of these devices being attached to the interplane bracing struts. Two 65-lb (29,5-kg) bombs could also be carried. The Baby was widely used by the RNAS to provide fighter , aircraft for use with patrol ships, as escorts for two-seaters and for operation from early aircraft carriers. A total of 286 Babies was built of which 195 were produced by Blackburn - and sometimes known as Blackburn Babies - 105 of the latter being fitted with the 130 hp Clerget engine, and, of these, 40 were fitted (initially) to carry the Ranken dart and no gun armament. A more extensive modification of the Sopwith float fighter was the Fairey Hamble Baby (which see). The following data relate to the 130 hp Blackbum-built Baby.

R.Mikesh, A.Shorzoe Japanese Aircraft, 1910-1941 (Putnam)

Navy Ha-go Small Seaplane (Sopwith Schneider Fighter Seaplane)

Capt Shiro Yamauchi acquired a Sopwith Schneider fighter floatplane while on his aviation inspection tour in England in August 1915. As a direct descendant of the famous Schneider Trophy winner it became known as the Schneider and bore a close resemblance to its predecessor, the Tabloid, which could also be float equipped. Also known as a Sopwith Baby, the aeroplane arrived in Japan by ship in May 1916 and became the japanese Navy's first fighter seaplane. Originally this aeroplane was powered by a 100hp Gnome engine, but those manufactured by Aichi under the Naval designation Ha-go Small Seaplane were powered by the 110hp Le Rhone engine. Training for aerial combat with this aeroplane was begun in March 1918 by Sub-Lieut Shirase, and the first loop by a japanese Naval officer was made by Lieut Torao Kuwahara with one of these aeroplanes.

Журнал Flight

Flight, August 7, 1914.

THE "ROUND BRITAIN" MACHINES.

ALTHOUGH the Circuit of Britain for the Daily Mail prize, which was to have started from Southampton on Monday next, has naturally been indefinitely postponed by the Royal Aero Club on account of the calamity of war in which this country has been involved, the work and money expended by the manufacturers on the various machines are not by any means wasted, since it seems likely that they will be called upon to show their capabilities in actual service instead of in a peaceful race round our coasts. As the nine entries may be said to represent fairly closely the present trend of our seaplane industry, we think that our readers will agree that descriptions of these nine types of seaplanes will be of great interest. We therefore intend to publish in the present and successive issues articles dealing with the construction of these nine "Circuit" machines, dealing with them in the order of their official numbers in the race. As a number of the machines are, at the time of going to press, still in the shops in a more or less unfinished state, it has been impossible to obtain photographs of all of them, and we have therefore had perspective sketches prepared, from which those of our readers who are not experts in "reading" scale drawings may obtain a good idea of the general arrangements of the machines. In addition to these sketches we are giving drawings either to scale, or in some cases as nearly as possible to scale, and in the present issue will be found a table of the chief characteristics of all the machines, which should prove useful for purposes of comparison. The machine which was officially numbered 1 is:

The Sopwith Tractor Biplane.

Our readers are already familiar with previous Sopwith machines of the tractor type through illustrated descriptions in FLIGHT, and the Circuit biplane does not differ materially from its prototypes except in dimensions. From the accompanying illustrations it will be seen that the fuselage is slightly more elongated than is usual in the Sopwith Scouts, probably in order to counteract to a certain extent the side area of the floats. Since the machine was flown as a land aeroplane at Brooklands the size of both rudder and tail fin has been increased, so that the vertical surface aft now seems quite capable of taking care of the side area of the two floats, and the nose of the covered-in fuselage. This member, which is of rectangular section topped by a turtle back, is built up in the usual way of four ash longerons, struts, cross-members, and diagonal bracing. At the rear the fuselage terminates in a vertical knife-edge, whilst in the nose of the machine the longerons of the fuselage converge to join the front engine bearer, which forms a horizontal knife-edge. The aluminium cowl over the engine is of the same type as that fitted on the small scouting biplanes, a type which has been found in practice to combine a good entry for the air with sufficient cooling of the engine. In front, the fuselage is wide enough to accommodate the motor - a 100 h.p. Gnome monosoupape - which is mounted between double bearers, and drives directly a propeller of 8 ft. 6 ins. diameter. Immediately behind the engine is situated the petrol and oil tanks, whilst an additional supply of petrol is carried in another tank behind the passenger's seat. This is situated sufficiently far forward to provide a good view in a downward direction, whilst from the pilot's seat, placed as it is in line with the trailing edge of the lower plane, which has been cut away near the body, an excellent view is obtained in a downward and forward direction. By cutting away the trailing edge of the centre portion of the upper plane, the pilot is enabled to look upwards and forwards, so that it would appear that the arrangement of the pilot's seat and the staggered planes is such as to give the pilot, as nearly as possible in a machine of this type, an unrestricted view in all directions. The main planes are of the usual Sopwith type, and are very strongly built. Compression struts are fitted between the main spars in order to relieve the ribs of the strain of the internal cross-bracing. Ailerons are fitted to the tips of both upper and lower main planes, and are slightly wider than the remaining trailing portion of the wings in order to render them more efficient. The ailerons are operated through stranded cables passing round a drum on the control lever in front of the pilot's seat. The tail planes are of the usual characteristic Sopwith type, consisting of an approximately semi-circular tail plane, to the trailing edge of which is hinged a divided elevator. The rudder is of ample size, and a comparatively large vertical tail fin runs from the rudder post down to the leading edge of the fixed tail plane. The chassis is of a substantial type, and the two main floats are sprung by means of leaf springs interposed between the rear of the float and the rear chassis struts, whilst the floats pivot round their attachment to the lower end of the front chassis struts. The floats are spaced a comparatively great distance apart, in order to render the machine more stable on the water. A tail float of the usual type takes the weight of the tail planes when the machine is at rest.

Flight, February 6, 1919.

"MILESTONES"

THE SOPWITH MACHINES

The Baby Seaplane. (September, 1915)

The Baby Seaplane was an immediate development of the "Tabloid," from which it differed principally in the fitting of floats instead of wheels. One of these machines made history by winning the Schneider Trophy at Monaco, and the Baby Seaplane is very similar to the famous Sopwith "Schneider." In this machine wing warping had given way to ailerons. The floats were of the plain, non-stepped type, and a tail float of considerable size was fitted under the stern. The engine originally fitted was a 100 h.p. Gnome monosoupape, but later on n o and 130 h.p. Clergets were also used. It is of interest to note that, although this seaplane performed highly successfully at its first appearance, it was more or less put on one side at the outbreak of War, and it was not until November, 1914, that the demand arose for a fast single-seater seaplane. It was then immediately put into production, and from that distant date until the signing of the Armistice the Sopwith Baby Seaplane has been continually in service.

Surely one of the most enticing 'Wish you were here' postcards ever printed (for, like the preceding Tabloid floatplane picture, it was indeed produced in postcard form) this view calls for little remark beyond affirming that the Sopwith caption reads: '43-100 hp Seaplane. Winner of Schneider Cup at Monaco. April/1914.'

Whatever doubts may be entertained concerning the photographic authenticity of this picture of Sopwith's 1914 Schneider Trophy winner - or for that matter the elegance and strict authenticity of the lettering - there can be no doubt regarding the tail-float attachment. (The smaller lettering in the Sopwith inscription reads: '49-100 hp Sea Scout Winner of Schneider Cup.').

A remarkable photograph secured by Mons. E. Marchessaux at Monaco on April 20th, during the final contest for the Schneider Aviation Cup. - This negative absolutely untouched, and shows Mr. Howard Pixton's Sopwith machine passing the Franco-British seaplane piloted by M. Burri. The above is one of the autograph photographs of the amateur photographer which he presented to the two pilots who finished for this cup.

With Pixton perched on the port float, and propped against the wing, this view of the Tabloid on floats at Monaco is more familiar than those earlier reproduced, but is nevertheless valuable for comparison with the Naval Schneider seaplane later illustrated and described.

Early Schneiders had a triangular fin, as witness this revealing view. No. 3717 takes a solid-tyred delivery ride, with its own pneumatic beaching or launching chassis (note also the underfuselage bomb-carrier.

Early in the morning of 12 August 1915 Flight-Lieutenant Levy in Sopwith Schneider 3717 left Felixstowe on a patrol to the North Hinder lightship. Apparently on his own initiative, he flew on to Zeebrugge where he dropped his bombs on the Mole but was brought down by the carrier pigeon loft attendant whose accurate fire hit the Schneider's petrol tank, causing the engine to stop. Although making a successful forced landing on the water, Levy was unable to get the engine going, so he kicked the floats in, sinking his seaplane before being captured. The Schneider was salvaged, however, completely rebuilt and flown at Zeebrugge. It ended its days in the DELKA travelling exhibition of captured Allied aircraft.

Later in its career, Schneider 3788 was redoped in a Khaki Green camouflage and full British roundels and rudder stripes. For movement ashore, the Schneider and Baby had mounting points for a wheeled undercarriage on their main floats

A Sopwith Schneider float plane (number 3788) is holsted aboard a Royal Navy seaplane carrier. The aircraft was powered by a 100 hp Gnome Monosoupape rotary engine and was attached to No 2 Wing of the RNAS stationed in the Mediterranean Sea

Three Sopwith Schneiders and a Sopwith Baby of the Royal Naval Air Service War Flight are parked in front of their hangars on the Isle of Grain on 13 March 1917. The third Schneider with the dark finish is number 8118

An early Sopwith Baby, or Schneider, fitted with a 100hp Gnome Monosoupape. The RNAS bought their first Babys shortly after the start of hostilities, using them as unarmed scouts. However, from early 1915 onwards these little seaplanes were fitted with a swivellable-in-elevation-only, over-wing-mounted .303-inch Lewis gun and employed as armed shipboard scouts or for the local defence of seaplane bases. A little too fragile to operate in much of the weather experienced around Britain and the North Sea during winter, the Baby came into its own when operated in the Balkans and Middle East. Production of the type commenced in November 1914, with 296 being built.

A Sopwith Baby of an unidentified Royal Naval Air Service unit. The aircraft is armed with a .303 Lewis machine gun mounted on the upper wing center section. The Baby was a follow-on design based on the Schneider